After years of effort from local leaders in the political and medical fields as well as a barrage of lobbies from others across southeast Saskatchewan who knew it was a good and necessary fit, there will finally be a CT scanner in Estevan's St. Joseph's Hospital.
This isn't merely a win for Estevan, but it's a big step forward in the medical realm that will benefit thousands more outside of Estevan. Patients across the region will be able to take advantage of the diagnostic equipment coming to Estevan rather than adding to the backlog of people waiting on the imaging equipment to become available in Regina.
With all of the speeches on June 27 that ushered in the announcement, we don't forget what it took in order for the Ministry of Health to pay attention to the growing needs of St. Joseph's.
The deal has been on the table for more than a year, with local governments - the City of Estevan along with 14 other southeast RMs - that called on the province to sign some papers in order to grant the Estevan hospital the diagnostic imager. Don't worry about the price. We'll pick up the tab.
The deal was finally accepted, so now we'll raise $2 million locally, to cover both the purchase of the equipment and the renovations at St. Joseph's Hospital that will be required to house the scanner. The original deal offered to the province by the City of Estevan along with the southeast RMs and towns promised we would even cover the cost of the first two years' of operation, but the Ministry of Health found some wiggle room in their budget to accept those costs out of the goodness of their hearts.
Not that we couldn't do it.
Along with the announcement of the CT scanner, Greg Hoffort, the hospital's executive director, presented another announcement that more than half of the necessary funds have already been raised. Thanks to support from the various municipal governments in the southeast, Ron and Shirley Carson, the Midale Mainprize Manor Trust Fund and Dorothy Yoner, there is already $1.16 million committed of the $2 million sought.
We wonder if the gift horse was accepted by the province right away, rather than its molars being inspected, whether the funds would have already been raised. Maybe then the announcements last week would have involved the installation of the unit, not simply that we were getting permission from the Ministry to finally buy one ourselves.
After requesting the unit for many years, the announcement has been met with more relief than excitement or exuberance. Now that we can stop making that request it's time to look at what the next lobbying efforts are going to be.
With fundraising nearly complete for the construction of a new nursing home in Estevan, our attention turns there. No, we don't want to wait for the ribbon cutting in front of the doors of a new hospital in Weyburn before ground is broken on the next long-term care facility in Estevan.
It's time to start making calls, writing letters and sending e-mails about once again getting the permission to provide quality care for the people in need across Saskatchewan's southeast.
